Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Episode 1- Worlds Meet
by Steel Kiba
Summary: A series with ties to the MMPR, Pokémon, and Zelda universes. Feron Grove was a peaceful city in the Amalei Region until the demonic space sorceress Rita Repulsa returned to reclaim her rule. But there is one hope: a team of freedom fighters driven by the power of the ancient dinosaurs—the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! BRAND NEW, TRUE FIRST EPISODE!
1. Setting Sail

**Hi All!**

 **For new readers, welcome to my series of** ** _Mighty Morphin Power Rangers_** **crossovers! I hope you enjoy the adventures and check out more of my work. As always, any comments or questions are welcome!**

 **For current fans (and admins who are wondering why there are two first episodes), this is a complete rewrite of Episode 1, which will be rebranded as the pilot episode. As this different story progresses, the other one may be completely deleted. The others will just undergo regular editing. Also, please be understanding as I update this episode and Episode 9. This will take some time, and I have had a lot of things going on at work and in life, but don't worry. The Power Is On!**

Eons ago, the evil sorceress Rita Repulsa ruled everything with a poison grip, enslaving humanity and destroying countless wondrous creatures, all in the name of a lust for control and a hidden power. The good wizard Zordon was able to seal her away for ten thousand years at the cost of his freedom, but she has returned to wreak havoc on Earth again. Now, Zordon has chosen a team of noble, world-traveled teenagers to harness the power of the dinosaurs to stop her and bring peace to the world. They are the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!

 **VOICE CAST**

Brennan Mejia as Ash Ketchum/Red Ranger

Rachel Lillis as Misty Williams/Yellow Ranger

Lucien Dodge as Tracey "Sketchit" Matthews/Blue Ranger

Erin Cahill as Lia Feran/Pink Ranger

Johnny Yong Bosch as Brock Harrison/Black Ranger

David Fielding as Zordon

Richard Horovitz as Alpha 5

Barbara Goodson as Rita Repulsa

Kerrigan Mahan as Goldar

 _Worlds Meet_

Pallet Town—the place where journeys begin for many aspiring young people in the Kanto Region. A small community located in the southwestern part of the territory, it was a place where the sun usually shone bright all day long, bathing trainers and their Pokémon companions in warm light that matched their optimism.

That was not the case today.

Gray clouds hung over the rumbling, early morning sky, threatening to release rain over Pallet's wide green plains, the roads leading to the greater Kanto Region, and the seaport that led travelers away from it.

"The forecast says it looks like this all the way west," Ash Ketchum said. He looked up at the sky, tilting his red cap back and straightening the backpack over his blue vest-laden shoulders. "At least that'll be one thing that's familiar."

His mother Delia, who stood behind him, giggled lightly. "You're always used to something new," she countered.

Ash turned away from the waterside and sighed. He looked at his mother and his Pikachu, his constant companion that sat in her arms with a somber look on its yellow face. He walked over to them and stroked his electric mouse's forehead. Where he'd be going, there would be no Pikachu; in fact, there'd be barely any Pokémon at all.

"I know, Pikachu," the young man said, his soft tone doing nothing to comfort his friend. "But this is something I have to do for me, I guess."

"Exactly," Delia cut in, moving along with her son to the bridge that led to a mid-sized sea ferry. "You need to be able to take care of yourself outside of the Pokémon world. What if something happens and you can't train or battle? The school in Feron Grove will be perfect for you."

Ash took a long look at the blue-and-white striped boat. Several people of all age were boarding, all talkative and smiling.

"Five minutes until departure!" a woman's voice said over a PA system. "Five minutes until Ferry 6 takes off for the Amalei Region!"

Ash mustered a smile and turned around, gathering his mother and Pikachu up in a tight hug. He shut his eyes tight and said, "I love you guys. I'm gonna miss you. Say hi to Professor Oak and Gary for me."

The three let go and Delia and Pikachu smiled. "We love you too, Ash. And stop worrying. It's not like you'll be alone, anyway."

Ash nodded, hitched up his backpack, and stepped up the ramp to get on the boat. As he got aboard, he waved to his mother, who waved back, and to Pikachu, who let out a loud "Pika, Pikachuuu!" as the ship's horn blared and the huge vehicle began to push off against the waves.

 _Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!_

The words kept racing over and over in Misty Williams' head. The Cerulean City native leaned up over the side railing of the sea ferry, letting the wind rush through her fiery-red hair and the salty ocean air take her senses over. She was finally free from the familiar and grinding cycle of Gym Leader challenges and was back on the watery open road. Any new destination was welcome to Misty.

"Don't fall over, now," a voice said behind her.

Misty brought her feet back to the deck floor and turned around, her eyes meeting those of Ash Ketchum's—someone she hadn't seen in a couple of years. Despite her wide grin, she furrowed her brow and placed a hand on her hip. "Please, Ash," she quipped. "I could swim all the way there."

"I'm sure," Ash replied, chuckling a bit. "Great to see you, too after…"

"Too long," Misty interrupted. She stepped closer to him, looking to the side and brushing absolutely nothing off of the short yellow sleeve of her shirt. Ash shrugged and looked to the side as well. A few seconds passed, and the two teens looked at each other again with small smiles. They began to walk toward each other, their arms slowly rising up, when…

"All right, bring it in!" another male voice shouted. Ash and Misty suddenly found themselves wrapped up by two big arms and brought closer to a tall figure with brown, bushy hair.

"Brock! Hey!" Misty said excitedly.

"About time, man!" Ash added.

Brock Harrison, their eldest friend and former Pewter City Gym Leader, laughed and jostled the two in a group hug. "You didn't think I'd miss a cruise with all these pretty ladies, did you?" he asked, looking around at all the women around him.

Misty sighed and said, "Still stuck on one note, huh?"

Ash and Brock laughed, the latter nudging the former and Misty. He pulled a trifold pamphlet out of his black Dockers and said, "That and Feron Grove High's doctoral program. Everyone says it's number one when it comes to Pokémon, animal, and human health studies. Why not go for it all?"

"Same here," Misty remarked as the group began to stroll across the ship, getting in stride with one another. "As much as I love Pokémon training, I'm ready for just about everything new."

"Yeah," Ash said. He took a seat on a deck chair next to someone and stretched out his arms and legs. "You guys have fun with that. I'm going to take it a step at a time here."

"You and Tracey both," Brock interjected. "I called to see when he'd be getting on the ship, but his mom said he was out swamped with work."

"I wonder where he…" Misty began. She stopped and turned to look at the person sitting next to Ash. The person—clad in a pair of khaki shorts and an aqua-colored button-up shirt—was laid out as well, a book covering his face. Ash and Brock examined the figure as well, watching him breathe deeply. Ash slowly reached over and lifted the book off of the passenger's head, revealing the face of their friend Tracey "Sketchit" Matthews.

Tracey shifted and mumbled, "Hey, turn off the light," pushing some of his black bangs over his eyes.

"Nice to see you again, buddy," Ash said, lifting the book up. "What are you reading? What is this?" Ash passed the book to Misty, who squinted as she looked at various scrawls sitting next to the colored drawing of a Greninja.

"Looks a lot like Professor Oak's blackboard," Misty surmised. "No count recorded in Feron Grove..."

"I was out at Vermilion City drawing some water Pokémon at the cape," Tracey said, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "I've been working with computer transfer systems for so long I just started writing down stats. So used to looking at them. So used to it…"

"Alright, alright," Brock contributed. He helped Tracey to his feet and took a look at the sky. "That's enough stress, guys." He raised his eyebrows and looked at Ash when he finished that sentence. Ash tilted his head and got up as well. "No legendries, no Team Rocket balloons, just probably a few raindrops coming in. I say we concern ourselves with that breakfast buffet on the second floor."

"Now that's a plan," the other three said, smiling and shaking their heads as their words came together. The reunited friends headed off to get something to eat, oblivious to the low rumble of thunder in the distance as the ship pressed on toward a new land.


	2. Incoming Danger

The Amalei Region—lush, vibrant, peaceful. It was comprised of a small network of isles nestled northeast of the U.S. Virgin Islands and a few hours away from the Kanto Region—in fact, the entire region was an American territory. Though each one held many tightly knit communities and diverse landscapes, the largest of them all was Feron Grove, a city that was anchored in the north and center of the biggest island, and it certainly was the center of activity. People from all over the world came to visit Feron Grove and its surrounding beachside and pastoral towns, and there was always a bus, trolley, or ship that would take the locals to any of those places.

A late summer breeze did little to quell the humidity hanging in the island city's air, but that didn't matter to Lia Feran, who sat under a tall oak tree in the park near the city's center. A young lady of sixteen, she and her family had lived on the island for generations. The same could not be said could be said of the Pokémon that populated the island. Only a small number of species now remained after thousands of years.

"Let's see…" Lia murmured, her bright blue eyes fixed on a book of which she was dutifully flipping the pages. "Couldn't be bubonic plague. Some kind of flu…no."

While Lia read, a group of nearby teenagers were embroiled in a fast-paced game of soccer. One of the girls, Wendy, intercepted the ball from one of the boys and went to kick it past them, but she got tripped up, changing the sphere's trajectory. The ball hurled right toward the girl under the tree, who raised her eyes above her book and raised her arm and knocked it to the ground.

"Whoa! Sorry, girl!" Wendy said, going over to her and picking up the ball.

"No worries," Lia said, smiling at her friend. "But please watch your aim. Isn't Mike supposed to be the target?"

"Oh sure, pick on the fat kid!" Mike yelled half-jokingly, pushing his black swath of long hair to the side of his head and patting his round belly. "Where's that brother of yours, Lia? Can't he take a few for the team?"

"Karate practice, Mikey," the younger Feran sibling said. "You know how he is."

"Yeah, and you still owe me lunch for breaking my guitar, and you haven't paid up!" Wendy shouted back. "I get to hit you at least once!" She bent over to tie her purple sneakers when she noticed Lia mumbling. She took a look at the book and said, " _An Encyclopedia of Diseases…_ You aren't the science type."

Lia cocked her head to the side, making her raven-and-blonde-streaked hair dangle in the air. "Perfect reading weather," she remarked. "Besides, I'm trying to figure out what's making everyone sick."

"That is weird," Rashid, another one of their friends, commented in a soft accent as he went to grab a drink of water from his metal container. "I just saw on the news that three more people and some animals got whatever crud that is."

"Paralysis isn't just crud, man," Mike cut in, taking the ball from Wendy. "These people are puking and can't even move much of their bodies. Check this out." He pulled out his smartphone and showed everyone a few images from an online newspaper—three victims writhing in pain from some kind of unknown illness.

"Still…disturbing…" Wendy responded as Rashid shook his head. "But what are you gonna do about it, Lia?"

"Find out what it is, I guess. What can I do?" Lia said, shrugging. The other three then ran off to continue their game. Lia reached into a dark pink backpack and drew out another book entitled _Island Legends._ Over the past few days, people, Pokémon, and other animals had been found unconscious or otherwise impaired, and nobody had been able to tell anyone about what hurt them—they were physically unable to.

 _"Something about this seems familiar,"_ Lia said to herself, flipping through the pages. When she reached page 100, her eyes grew wide.

 _No way… That can't be right…_

"Come on, Eevee! Go get it, boy!"

The little brown Pokémon cried out excitedly as it chased after its companion—a little girl of no more than eight years old. The child dashed out from a thicket of trees and into a sandy clearing, chucking a stick into the distance. The stick landed near the mouth of a small, lone cave that sat near the water's edge. Eevee scurried past the smiling girl and went to retrieve the branch, but it stopped dead in its tracks as it approached the mouth of the cavern. Its pointed ears perked up, and the creature began to growl.

"Eevee?" the girl asked, tugging at the sleeve of her white jumper. "What's wrong?"

A low hissing sound came from the dark opening of the cavern, making the girl shudder and Eevee let out a combative cry, moving in front of its friend. In an instant, the Pokémon was thrown back to the child's feet. Eevee let out a low moan, curling up in a little ball. Two round marks near its neck were drooling blood, and flecks of green slime were creeping up its neck.

"Eevee, no!" the child screamed. She pulled her sweater off and wrapped it around her pet's wounds as tight as possible. She lifted up her eyes toward the cave, having not seen what hurt her Eevee, and she came face to face with two black eyes, two saber-like fangs, and a forked tongue.

"Go ahead. Run and tell them what you saw…" a raspy voice said.

The girl let out a tear-choked shriek and ran off the way she came, cradling Eevee in her arms. The assailant, a hulking figure the girl didn't get to fully see, rose up and looked to the sky. Heavy gray clouds began to creep in from the east.

"Another tribute for you, my empress," the creature hissed. "They will truly know your power very soon."


	3. Terrible News

The rumble of thunder began to get louder and louder as the sea ferry charged on to Feron Grove. Several passengers enjoying the outdoor air began filing into the interior of the ship as rain began to drizzle upon them.

Ash, Misty, Brock, and Tracey were on the second level of the boat in a large social room, enjoying the last of their breakfast and keeping an eye on the weather outside.

"What a day for a cruise, huh?" Misty said, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin. Rain began to fall faster than before and pelted the windows while another thunderclap rang out.

"Whoa!" Ash called out as a couple of bolts of lightning stabbed the distant water. "Awesome! Good thing we aren't out there or we'd be cooked!"

"Speaking of cooked," Tracey said through a mouthful of blueberry pancakes. "This boat really knows how to fill us up."

Brock chuckled as he drained the last of a third cup of coffee. "That's an understatement, but it's just a couple shades below what I eat at home."

"Yeah," Ash remarked, getting up from the circular table and stretching his legs. The other three got up to join him. "Your food's A-Number One. Your cousin's gonna love it."

"Man, I can't wait to see Stu," Brock replied. "It's been years."

"Same here," Misty acknowledged, with Tracey nodding in agreement. "We all have family we haven't seen in a while." She looked over at Ash, who simply shrugged. The girl put a hand on his shoulder and said, "It'll certainly be interesting," and the boy breathed a sigh nodded his head to the side.

The four began to walk up a small flight of stairs to get to the third level of the ship, which would surely provide a great view of the ocean storm. As they stepped upward, a couple of kids ran down the opposite side of the staircase, dropping a newspaper in their wake.

"Hey! Calm down the both of you!" their bearded father ordered, shuffling past everyone to catch up with the children.

"Hey, you dropped this!" Tracey said, picking up the paper and waving it to the man, but he was long gone. The others shook their heads and smiled, and the group continued to go up to the highest floor.

"Let's see…what's going on?" Tracey uttered, flipping through the pages and humming. The four teenagers made it to a large rectangular window facing east. The rain continued to pour and run down the glass in rivulets, creating an almost peaceful sound until it was broken.

"Now this is insane…"

"What?" Brock asked, turning to Tracey.

"Check this out, guys," Tracey answered, opening the paper wider so everyone could see an article entitled, "Shuttle Still Lost in Space." The friends perused the article, their eyes widening as they read.

"No contact for four days?" Misty spoke. "What could be wrong?"

"Beats me," Ash added, scratching the right side of his face. "I'm guessing those moon-bound Clefairy had nothing to do with it.

"Of course not, Ash," Brock said, raising an eyebrow at the joke. "That'd be totally crazy."

Tracey rubbed his eyes and said, "What's crazy is that Mission Control hasn't even gotten an image of what's happening on the moon." Another lightning bolt crashed into the sea and thunder loudly rolled. "You have all that expensive tech and nothing to show for it? Those astronauts are in real trouble."

"Astronauts?" a nearby woman said, pulling some headphones off of her ears. "They just found something about them now."

The four friends instantly walked over to the lady, who detached her headphones from her tablet and let them see. A news program was playing on a radio app that the tablet featured.

"We here at NPR have just received breaking news regarding the missing lunar shuttle _Frontier_ and its two pilots. Space program officials said they have finally gotten a lock on a feed on one of the astronauts'—former Air Force Captain Charlie Meadows—body cameras, which had been ripped off of his spacesuit. Though the footage is grainy, we are dismayed to report that both he and copilot Lieutenant Valerie Burrows have died. Officials say that the video shows both astronauts prone on the moon's surface with their suits razed with burn marks and tears. The appearance of the tears suggests that the suits were slashed open. The outline of the _Frontier_ appears in the background, apparently intact. Nothing that could have possibly caused the astronauts' deaths seems to be visible in the shot. No news source will be showing the video or any of the gruesome images out of respect for Meadows and Burrows and their loved ones. The president will be holding a press conference at 1:00 PM today, and all American flags shall be flown at half mast. We will bring you more updates as they come in.

"No way. That's so terrible…" a teenage boy who just came by the group said. A couple of other people who had also stepped by gasped, sniffled, and talked amongst themselves. Brock, Tracey, Misty, and Ash just stood where they were, too shocked to move.

Miles away in Feron Grove, Lia had come across the same broadcast on her way to her next destination. She paced along the tile floor of Feron Grove Hospital after having taken one of the city trolleys to get there.

"It's all adding up to something…" she muttered, flipping through the pages of _Island Legends._ She paused when she saw the pages she was looking for. "Something…"

 **THE UNKNOWN PLAUGE**

 _Eleven thousand years ago, the Amalei Region was home to a vast array of peoples and wondrous creatures, many of which are predecessors of the Pocket Monsters of today. The network of islands and locales had recently come through a time of war, and peace had finally returned. However, it would not last as an unseen force crept into the region. War, slavery, and plague returned with a vengeance, and countless innocent lives and species were lost over a thousand years; some of those that did not immediately perish were rendered immobile, watching as the lives they used to know fall apart._

 _Unfortunately, much of what happened has disappeared in the mists of time. After one thousand years of darkness, the plague and the mysterious dark forces that ruled over the Amalei Region vanished, never to be seen again._

Lia walked through the white-walled halls of the hospital, eventually stopping at Room 34. She stepped through the archway and sat in an empty chair next to a man with short gray hair and a matching mustache. The man sat by the bedside of a woman with light blonde hair, her face pallid and her body shivering. A mass of bandages covered her left shoulder.

"How's Mom holding up, Dad?" Lia asked, taking a deep breath.

"Still stable, honey," her father replied. Smith Feran dipped his head away from his daughter. "But she still isn't moving or speaking. The doctors still don't know what's in that slime that was in her bite. It isn't from any known Pokémon."

"Seems like the unknown is the answer," Lia said, drumming the spine of her book and showing her father. "Here and in space."

Smith looked at the page and shook his head. "Could be anything. You don't need to be wrapping yourself up in more of this bad news, Lia. I want you as far away from here as possible. You kids don't need to worry."

"Sure, your mom's catatonic. No worries. Just sit back." the daughter droned, slapping the sides of her black cargo pants. "You know me and Hayashi."

"Yeah," Smith sighed, clutching his wife's hand. "He said he'd be here after practice. Seriously, she hasn't gotten worse, so you need to just keep your head up…and out of a book the whole time."

"Says the librarian," Lia remarked. She rose from her chair and craned over her mother, giving her a kiss on the cheek. An unwelcome warmth and pressure rose to her cheeks and crept to her nose and eyes, but she took a deep breath and turned to give her father a hug. "Then I'll get going. I have to find something."

"What?" Smith asked as the girl walked away and out the door.

"Don't know."


	4. Lunar Evil

To the naked eye, the Earth's moon would appear the same as it had for countless eons—cold, rocky, barren. In fact, even the most high-powered telescopes and space-age equipment would seem to confirm that notion. But the moon was not devoid of life. Actually, some of the most treacherous beings in the cosmos were living there, their identities and hiding place cloaked away from view.

On top of Earth's satellite stood a towering wrought-iron fortress. Grated and solid, sharp spires stood out in all directions, looking to pierce the Milky Way galaxy itself, and on top of the whole structure was a glowing sphere on a pedestal that was encircled by two rotating rings, much like a gyroscope.

Though there was no breathable air in outer space, that fact proved to be no obstacle for the figures occupying the tower's—known as the Moon Palace—throne room. Three of them stood on the smooth, light-brown floor in front of a huge swinging pendulum, and one stood atop an open-air balcony in front of them, her eyes fixed upon planet Earth.

"Ten thousand years," the figure atop the balcony said. She drummed her sharp fingernails on the bronzed railing that separated her from the rest of the moon. "So much has been stolen from me in such a short time."

One of the three standing below the balcony snorted, wiping a trail of saliva from his gnarly jowls with a chubby powder-blue hand. "But Empress Rita," he began, shifting his bulbous weight. "Weren't you just saying it's been too long…"

"Quiet, Squatt, you simpleton!" a tall creature next to him hissed. The being—a thin, hairy, blue man-bat named Baboo—struck his companion's silvery, tarnished shoulder pad with one hand, pushed his spectacles up to his narrow eyes with another, and held two more in front of his chest when a long, jagged blade shot right near his chest cavity. The sword's master glared at both Squatt and Baboo with piercing red eyes, eyes that contrasted with his apish, midnight-blue face.

"There's no need for that, Goldar," Rita Repulsa urged in a sickeningly sweet voice. A smile curled her purple lips as she turned to face her court. "They're just restless after being cooped up in that space dumpster." She pointed a finger to the distant lunar plain. Hunks of their enchanted prison—rusty bronze space metal with curved markings—dotted the barren surface. Not too far away was a lone space shuttle with everything intact, and tethered to it were two lifeless bodies.

Though smaller than two-thirds of the group that stood below her and clad in a simple brown robe that was only adorned with a wide black collar, she stood with a presence that her subjects revered and many others feared. Once the most fearsome sorceress in the galaxy who ruled everything she saw, she and her crew had been locked away for millennia, lost in the deep reaches of space.

"I thought you'd let loose a little more," Rita said. "Throat cutting and impaling seems a little bland after all this time."

Goldar, the intergalactic empress' chief warrior, bared his fangs and ran a gilded claw across his blade, which was still tinged with the astronauts' blood. "Sometimes the simple things are the most enjoyable, my queen," the beast growled. "I can experiment once I go back down to Earth."

Rita let out a low giggle and twirled her magic wand, a long staff with a circular top that was anchored by a red sphere. The empress stepped to the side and peered through her Repulsascope, its focus cutting through the Earth's atmosphere and zeroing in on Feron Grove.

"In due time," she said, narrowing her gaze. Two boys were getting out of the water near a wooded area, noticing the incoming rainfall. In mere seconds, a huge red shape, too fast to be fully seen, smashed right into them. But Rita saw perfectly as the serpentine creature spat a green, viscous slime in the older boy's face and sank its fangs into the younger one's side. Both humans screamed as the snakelike being chuckled and disappeared back into the foliage.

"Perfect. We're leaving quite the trail for these disgusting humans," Rita remarked. Squatt and Baboo nodded and smiled, keeping quiet as Goldar stepped forward.

"Pardon me, Empress Rita," Goldar interjected, kneeling on one knee. "When should I go to join the invasion?"

Rita turned away from her enchanted telescope and stepped down to see her court. "I'll know," she said. "Adder has been causing quite the stir. But we shouldn't go all out just yet." She turned away from her monsters and smiled again. "Someone special will notice what we have been doing, and that's when that old fool Zordon will make his move. I want our new slaves to see the best of them fall."


	5. Cries and Calls to Action

"It just keeps getting worse. I don't believe this," Tracey muttered, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He and the others were standing near a huge window on the second floor of the ship; this one was positioned right at the bow. Rain continued to pelt everything in sight, and there was a lot to see. Feron Grove was coming into view, and the people watching were pleased with the island before them. The tops of huge palm trees danced in the storm, and a few Lanturn swam by, the lights on their heads glinting in the midday darkness.

"Whoa!" Ash called out. Another lightning bolt crashed into the island's north side, lighting up the entire landscape and showcasing the big port building standing in front of several other structures—some towering and some appearing like beads on the island. "This place is huge!"

Misty smiled and ran a finger over the glass, following a quickly falling raindrop. "And we're actually going to be staying here, so we've got plenty to do. It's going to be so much fun."

Tracey hummed low, his face in the newspaper, and Misty turned to him and said, "Tracey, what's wrong? I know there's some weird bad news out there, but it can't be all bad."

"Let me see," Brock interjected, craning his head toward what Tracey was reading. "Uh oh… There are several people in the hospital in Feron Grove. Some kind of animal's attacking them."

"Some kind?" Misty asked, going over to join them. "They don't know what's doing it?"

"It's not a Pokémon, or at least any they know of," Tracey responded. "My dad's a registered nurse up there, and he's seen most of the patients. They're paralyzed, barely alive."

"And no Pokémon companions to defend any of them," Misty whispered, biting her lip as she read the report.

"Less than two hundred up in the city," Ash said. He stretched up high and yawned. "Feron Grove likes to keep the numbers low because of wildlife and space conservation or something."

Brock frowned. "And there's some sent to Pokémon Centers because of this. They don't even have a chance to defend themselves."

The four friends looked up at the island they were approaching; the captain had announced that they would be landing in ten minutes. The four then looked at each other.

"I don't know if this is something we're meant to handle," Tracey began, rubbing the back of his neck.

Ash tightened a fist, and Misty pulled her fiery hair into a ponytail. "That's the case with everything we do," she replied, and Tracey nodded in agreement, chuckling lightly.

"Let's just keep our eyes peeled, guys," Ash said. "I don't think we should rush into anything yet."

"Right," Brock said, putting his hands behind his head. "Let's see our folks first. Then we can dive into crazy."

Another thunderclap crashed outside followed by flickering lightning. As the thunder dissipated, something else sounded out—lightly at first, but then just as loud as the storm. Low growls, a rolling snarl, and something like an elephant's trumpeting sound made Ash, Tracey, Misty, and Brock quietly gasp.

"What was that?" Ash nearly shouted, startled by the animalistic noises. A few people walking past him and his friends just raised their eyebrows and shrugged their shoulders. He looked at his friends, who stared at him with the same puzzled and astonished look he wore.

The rainstorm that had been assaulting the ocean now turned its attention to Feron Grove for the past hour. Water furiously fell down from the sky and lightning continued to crash around the island. But bad weather was the last of Lia's concern. She stepped off of the trolley that made its way to the southern part of the city and went over to the grassy edge of the land. Around her were Feron Grove Seaport, where travelers of all walks of life first arrived, the industrial shipyard, and a small dock that people looking for fun and adventure used to set sail.

The youngest Feran stopped right at the little dock where a small crowd of people were gathered. Police officers were widening the gap between the people and two boys who were near the water's edge. The younger boy was pale and shivering, splotches of green goop slathered near his mouth, on his bare chest, and on his white swimming trunks.

"It just came out of nowhere…" the older boy whispered, clutching his arm, which was wrapped up by one of the officers' coats; drops of blood dripped from his arm and onto the grass. "It spat on my brother and those two Starly we usually see."

The officer nearest him, a well-toned woman with a jet-black ponytail, helped the tall young man walk away from the scene while two policemen attended to his brother. The two bird Pokémon the child spoke of were floating in the water, also covered by the green poison.

"What did this thing look like?" she asked. "Nobody's seen it for sure, so anything you can…"

Suddenly, the boy doubled over and began to vomit, letting out ragged coughs in between convulsions. That's also when the ambulance sirens began to blare.

"It's okay, kid," the officer said, rubbing the boy's back. "Help will be here soon."

"Chief Kanzaki!"

Police Chief Sherry Kanzaki turned around to see Lia running up to her. The two boys had been loaded into the ambulance, and the crowd had been respectful. But as soon as Chief Kanzaki had turned away from the paramedics, there the girl was.

"Chief Kanzaki," Lia said again. She flipped her sopping-wet two-tone hair back; she hadn't bothered to try to find an umbrella in the past hour. "What did those kids say that thing that attacked them is?"

"No idea, Lia," Kanzaki replied hastily, moving quickly toward her officers. "You need to get back home. It isn't safe out here."

"It's moving so fast no one can identify it," Lia replied, keeping in-step with her. "I doubt anywhere's safe."

"Shouldn't you be with your mother right now?" Kanzaki questioned. She tried to wave Lia off, but to no avail. "This area's going on temporary lockdown, but I'll let you get out of here to go see her."

Lia gritted her teeth for a few seconds, looking into the distance as the rest of the people were being ushered toward the huge, round seaport building. Police were so busy with the protesting and curious crowd that they didn't notice four people slipping out of one of the side glass doors and tiptoeing toward the scene.

"She'll be fine," Lia growled. "if we catch the thing doing all of this." The young lady quietly caught her breath after that, her body growing tense. Some kind of high-pitched shriek, sort of like a bird, rang out in her ear. But nobody else around her seemed to notice.

"Lia, either get to seeing your folks or get inside!" Kanzaki snapped, the officers still trying to bombard her with details.

Lia opened her mouth to yell right back, but somebody else spoke.

"Hey, good thing we found you Lia!" Ash called out cheerfully. "We've been looking all over for you."

Lia raised her eyebrows in surprise as she looked at who now surrounded her: the black-haired boy who spoke up, a taller redheaded girl wearing a yellow shirt and jeans, another young man with a button-up shirt and his bangs dangling near his eyes in the rain, and the tallest boy with dark brown skin, probably of Asian or African American descent, or both.

"Jeez," Lia muttered, shaking her head. "What took you so long?"

"Hey, we enjoy walking in the rain," Misty piped up, putting an arm around her. "Come on, your folks are waiting."

The four friends pushed Lia to the center of the group and began to go down the road toward the city. The three police officials looked a little confused as they worked.

"What was that about?" one of the men asked.

"I don't have time," Chief Kanzaki said. "As long as they get somewhere safe."

Lia eyeballed the four teenagers around her as they walked. Judging by the gear they carried, they had just gotten off of one of the incoming transports. All four of them had their eyes narrowed and their mouths pursed tight.

"Did that cop say anything about what's been causing all this trouble?" Brock asked.

"No," Lia replied. "Just more I don't know. Why do you care?"

"We thought about that," Tracey said. "We were going to wait it out, but when a building gets locked down, we usually either escape it or break in."

"Better than sitting around and waiting for things to get worse," Ash added.

Lia allowed herself a laugh. "Okay, that's a plus. But I've been researching this for a while, and I have no definite lead…"

As Lia spoke, a throaty wail came through the stormy atmosphere. A little girl came limping out of a tunnel of trees that covered a dirt road leading to the east. She was carrying a small green lump, and her white undershirt was stained faint red.

The five teenagers rushed toward the child, who was sobbing uncontrollably into the green lump. They all ducked behind the foliage so they wouldn't be seen.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Ash asked.

"Help! That…that red snake!" the girl cried, opening up the bundle a little bit, revealing a barely breathing and goo-splotched Eevee. "It bit my Eevee and he said for me to tell and I…" She began to sob and scream again, and Misty and Brock brought her close and held her.

"Tell you?" Lia spoke, jostling her backpack. "If it can talk… The book…"

"This slime is covering the puncture wounds!" Tracey said, checking the punctures on the limp creature's neck. "That's why Eevee's alive, barely. But it's still toxic!"

"Where did the snake attack you?" Misty asked, rubbing the child's shoulders. "We have to know."

The girl continued to talk through her crying. "Down there…" she pointed down the dirt road. "By the cave near the water…" and then she broke down again.

"Look." Everyone turned to Brock, who pointed through some leafy branches and toward the way they came. Chief Kanzaki and her subordinates had heard the screams and were jogging down the road.

"The police are coming," Brock said, rubbing the little kid's hair. "They'll help you. Go!"

The girl sniffled and nodded, coming out from the foliage and going toward help. The five teenagers took one look at each other, and they bolted down the dirt path and into the woods.


	6. Watching

The thunder rumbled all around the five teens, and the leaves on the trees overhead nearly touched the ground thanks to the heavy rain and wind. The group quickly moved in unison as they brushed fronds aside, their feet sloshing in the mud.

"Pokémon trainers, huh?" Lia remarked. "So this'll be a walk in the park for you. We don't have many of those here in Feron Grove."

"Darting into danger? Kinda." Ash said in a hurried breath. "But you said this animal isn't a Pokémon, so we'll see how easy things are."

"I'm just glad I've got some help," Lia continued, sliding under a long, obstructing branch. Tracey had gone to move it out of the way, but was too late. He cocked his head as if to say, "Really now?" Lia smiled at him and kept talking, her tone growing a bit more serious. "This thing's hurt a lot of people, including my mom. I'm gonna catch it."

"Then it's a good thing you take the help, Lia," Misty noted as the others made it past the branch. Her. Tracey, and Brock noticed Lia taking the lead and Ash picking up the pace. "We wouldn't want you laid up in a hospital, too."

The five came up to a steep cliff that led to the cave. A large oak tree stood right next to it, branches and gouges in the wood forming a natural ladder. The kids climbed up slowly, one by one, and reached the drenched precipice. As they made it up, the thunder-filled air changed its tune, the faint animal cries each one of the teens had heard earlier ringing out again.

"We're close," Brock nearly whispered. A thunderclap sounded, and lightning flashed again, but the trumpeting grew louder.

"Yeah, about ten more minutes," Lia added. She looked around her, but she couldn't tell where the bird's shriek she heard was exactly coming from. She took a breath and said, "Hey, I might sound crazy, but…"

"You're not," Tracey interjected, with everyone else nodding. "We hear the growling too."

"Growling?" Misty asked, going to wipe some rain from her eyes. "I hear snarling, like a cat."

Ash stepped forward and took a look into the long tunnel of trees. A reptilian roar came from the darkness, but he wasn't afraid. In fact, the roar seemed to beckon him forward.

"I don't know what it is," he began. "But it doesn't feel like it's telling us to go away."

"Hopefully we're not being told to get in some monster's gut," Brock said.

Lia went to the head of the group and started toward the darkness, the others following suit. There was only one way to find out.

Far away from the seaside area, bright colors blared inside a building assaulted by the storm. In a desert wasteland in a far-off part of Feron Grove, this building was all but nonexistent, its wide sandstone walls and open center column invisible to everyone. Inside this structure, two skies seemed to meet, a starry, black backdrop mingling with several soft hues of the colors of the rainbow.

"Alpha 5," a deep, calm voice boomed. "It is as I have expected. Rita Repulsa is beginning her assault on Earth."

A line of red lights bounced back and forth in a darker corner of the chamber, pointed toward a glowing sphere. "Affirmative, Zordon," a high-pitched voice responded. "Luckily, no lives have been lost, but that will change soon, I'm afraid."

Zordon closed his eyes, contemplating what was to come. "Do you see them?" he questioned. "It is time."

The bright white globe showed an image of Ash, Lia, Brock, Misty, and Tracey making their way through the woods. Alpha squeaked with worry, his noise adding to the many beeps filling the place.

"But they're just children, Zordon! This will be unlike anything they've ever faced!"

Zordon nodded and opened his eyes, his countenance unchanged. "Absolutely, my friend. But they are the ones, and I am not the only one calling them. It is the only way."

Alpha trotted over to a ring of sleek purple consoles in the center of the room, each one covered with a number of multicolored buttons. He pressed his padded fingers onto a few keys. He then turned to see the globe again, dutifully dipping his head.

A warm rush of energy pulsed through the five teens' bodies as they pushed onward. The strange bestial cries they heard grew louder, but the sounds and the sensations were strangely welcoming. What they didn't know was that Rita was watching them from on high in her Moon Palace.

"This will be interesting," the evil queen said, stepping away from her telescope. "Five humans are coming upon Adder's cave, where our soldier will be sure to meet them." She twirled her magic wand for a few seconds and smiled. "They are the ones."

"I don't know, Your Highness," Squatt replied. He was pressing his bulbous eye right to the telescope. He saw the group breaking out of the forest, about to charge toward the cave. "They're just a bunch of kids. Are you sure they're Zordon's?"

Squatt's remark was suddenly cut short by a belch-filled cough, followed by a thud. Rita reared back the point of her staff and jabbed it into Squatt's throat, pushing him aside with her foot.

"As sure as I got your putrid face out of my way," Rita said. "Goldar! It is time for you to make your presence felt!"

"With pleasure, my empress!" Goldar snarled. He turned on his heel and went down one of the palace's darkened corridors. The ape-griffin hybrid stomped into a side room, knocking over a wooden work stool.

"Are those Putty Patrollers ready, Finster?" the warrior inquired, walking up to a trembling Finster. "I am going down to Earth to take our land back!"

Rita's monster artisan put his arms around a collection of clay figures on his work bench, gathering them together and away from Goldar's brutish form.

"A garrison of twenty is ready to go in the Monster-Matic," he sheepishly said, pushing a pair of small spectacles to his eyes. "Just have patience."

"Don't you tell me to be patient!" Goldar shot back, slamming his metal fist into his palm. "Adder may be a good monster, but he cannot compare to what I can do to those Earthlings."

Finster ignored his comrade's words and went to a towering oven. He placed a tray of twenty humanoid figures, made from space clay found on the moon, into the contraption, and pulled a lever. The Monster-Matic whirred and kinked and sputtered, and a large pipe that was connected to the machine and ran across the ceiling gyrated. Soon enough, a cloud of smoke expelled from the end of the tube, followed by a strange alien babble and several gray forms descending to the ground.

Finster turned to look at Goldar, who nodded with approval as the Putty Patrol fell in line.

"Excellent work," Goldar said. He bared his fangs and grinned. "That planet and its miserable people will be ours."

Meanwhile, Rita Repulsa had heard her henchmen's words. She ran a finger across the ball that was fused inside the circular end of her wand. They weren't the only ones that were going to enjoy this. She took hold of the scepter, and it began to glow with sickly purple light. She raised the top of the staff outside the reaches of her balcony, and purple bolts of lightning rocketed toward the Earth. Rita then stepped back and smiled.

"Your move, Zordon. Your little babies won't make it far, but go ahead and try."


	7. Tremors

The darkness over Feron Grove had been totally broken, if only for a moment. Violet strings of electricity rushed down from on high and struck the ground, instantly rattling the surface and everything standing upon it. Bricks were shaken from buildings, moving vehicles were shaken out of control, crashing into one another, and windows and glass burst into shards.

Oliver Matthews, Tracey's father and nurse at Feron Grove hospital, had just come in to check on Ellie Feran when the earthquake began. He didn't mind the instruments falling from the counters and walls, instead instantly going over to help Ellie's bed stay rooted in the chaos.

"What the…where's that light coming from?" Oliver asked, wrapping his arms around both sides of the bed.

"I don't know!" Smith Feran shouted, also gripping the steel frame to try and keep his wife stable. Suddenly, the huge florescent light above them cracked open, and a shower of glass headed straight for the comatose woman. Smith flung himself over Ellie, and Oliver threw himself over them both. The glass pelted the men and littered the floor.

Just then, a young man with blonde hair pushed himself through the doorway. The continuous tremors brought him to the ground, and he tried to push back up off of a steel countertop.

"Dad!" he called out. He tried to take a step forward, but he slid back down. "You all okay?"

"Hayashi, stay down!" Smith yelled at his son. As he did, the rumbling finally shook the whole light from the ceiling with a metallic creak. Oliver craned his head upward, but only just in time to see the fixture dropping toward his head.

 _Bang!_

The sound was followed up by a pained exhalation. Hayashi had pushed himself in the way, raising his arms up in a square block to deflect the rectangular light. The object had crashed to the ground, and the older Feran sibling held his forearms nearly between his legs.

"Geez…" Oliver sighed, shaking glass out of his black crew cut. The earthquake now began to subside, but smaller tremors jostled everything. "Thanks, Hayashi. You alright?"

Hayashi gritted his teeth and nodded his head as Oliver rolled up the sleeves of the boy's white karate jacket and saw his arms were beet red. It wasn't that bad.

"We don't ever get earthquakes here…" Hayashi said. "What set that one off?"

Smith shook his head in disbelief. He now moved his grip from the bed to Ellie's shoulders, but not before checking her pulse—a little faint, but still constant, just like the purple light outside.

 _Lia._

"Lia," Smith said. "We need to find her!"

Hayashi reached over to his green gear bag and retrieved his cell phone. He found Lia's number and dialed it, but all he heard was static.

"Nothing," he whispered, disconnecting and trying again. "No answer…come on, sis…"

Suddenly, audible from a faraway distance, a piercing and frightened scream rang out.

Back near the waterfront, Chief Kanzaki had her hands full. The earthquake was still rustling the area, and she needed to be several places at once.

"Tell the harbormaster to make sure those ships are anchored!" she yelled to a couple more officers who were on the scene. One of them tried to set the channel on a portable radio since the Feron Grove Seaport had a link to police radios in case of emergencies.

"There's just static, Chief!" one of them reported as he smacked the device. "No go!"

Kanzaki was about to respond when a familiar sound cut through the chaos. Three gunshots had just been fired, followed by an audible gurgle. Kanzaki grabbed Hanson, another one of the police officers, and both of them stared down the way where they had found the little girl. They saw a policeman fall slack down by the same dirt road, his gun by his side. Though they couldn't see his head, he was obviously clutching near his eyes and throat. Kanzaki and Hanson immediately bolted toward the fallen man, but his body was being pulled into the clearing.

"Stop! Police!" Hanson shouted as he drew his firearm. "Stop right now!"

"Officer down at the woods near the southern seaport!" Kanzaki gasped into her radio. "Something's dragging him away!"

"Can't copy…Wha…agai…" The dispatcher's voice on the other end was muffled by static and eventually silenced.

The two officers did their best to keep their footing sure as the ground still trembled and rain continued to fall. They skidded down to the entrance of the woody area, where they saw their teammate's body thrown into the dark foliage by seemingly nothing.

But it wasn't nothing.

Sweat crept down Kanzaki and Hanson's faces as two shiny black eyes and two curved fangs gleamed in front of them; those features distracted the humans from the Adder's mottled, crimson body.

Adder hissed, digging the claws on its two large legs into the grass and mud. The semi-humanoid beast stood his ground even as bullets flew from its attackers' weapons and into his midsection and the fanned crest of his head. Kanzaki and Hanson stood shivering in the rain, their eyes locked on the monstrosity. With a shout, Kanzaki fired a single shot right to the snake's brain, but Adder simply ducked out of the way.

"Not good enough," he said, letting out a hiss-filled chuckle, and with that, he pushed off from the ground and dove into the trees, taking his prey along with him.

A few seconds passed, and then the chief said, "Let's go!"

"Chief, wait!" Hanson urged, holding her back by the long blue sleeves of her uniform. "We need backup!"

"And Berry needs us!" the chief shouted back, referring to her fellow police official by surname. She kept her same hard stare locked on in the distance.

 _"And those kids, too,"_ she thought to herself. She was going to go after those five teens, who apparently went off into the woods to catch that thing that hurt the girl and her Eevee, but she and her men were needed back near the harbor, and then the quake soon followed.

 _"Those kids…"_ she said to herself again.

 _Crrrrrrack!_

An oak tree split at the base, soon bursting into scraps of wood as the tremors regained their strength. Another tree was shaken loose, beginning a slow descent toward the people under it.

"Move!" Lia screamed. The five teens leapt out of the way of the falling tree and down into the soaked earth. She rolled forward and regained her footing on top of a small hill overlooking their destination. Ash, Misty, Brock, and Tracey followed, all of their faces and limbs covered with bits of mud and greenery. All of them darted their eyes downward toward the lone cave the little girl told them about. It's brown, craggy visage coupled with the flashing purple lightning overhead made the chills in their bodies run even colder.

"This is just getting too weird," Brock remarked, holding others by the shoulder to keep them from falling.

Misty winced, the catlike creature's call growing even louder in the cacophony going on around her, but she kept moving forward.

"And this voice is getting even louder…" she muttered.

"Doesn't matter. There it is!" Ash cut in. He tossed aside his blue vest, which he had been using to cover his head, and he went to run toward the cave when the rumbling ground lurched hard, sending all five kids to the ground.

"Stay low, guys! We can't stand now!" Tracey urged. And the group did stay on the ground for a few moments until the shakes subsided. The purple light also vanished, leaving only rain, thunder, and the animal cries only the five could hear.

Ash, Misty, Tracey, Lia, and Brock slowly got to their feet, and they turned around to see how things looked. Some trees remained, but others were shattered, fallen, or otherwise disjointed. One branch hung from a smaller tree, and a lone leaf detached from it, gliding down into a small puddle of water.

"EAUGHUEAH!"

The teens turned around yet again, crying out in shock when they saw that they were no longer alone. The thing that just made a guttural noise looked like some kind of gorilla, but it looked like it wore golden armor instead of fur. Ripples and several blue and red jewels dotted the creature's body, and the only thing sharper than its claws and fangs was a saw-toothed sword that it held in its right paw.

The humans were speechless, and Goldar let out a satisfied growl as he took a couple of steps forward.

"Nothing to say, humans?" he posed, smacking the blade in his other hand as the group moved back. "Hmph. I guess the fear in your eyes screams for you."

"What kind of Pokémon…" Misty began.

"It's not…" Lia assured her. Her mind raced back to _Island Legends,_ about what she read on page 100. _"This is what it meant?"_ she thought.

The group stopped backing away from Goldar, and Ash stepped forward.

"I don't know what you want, but you're clearly trouble." Ash said in a low voice. Unlike the many Pocket Monsters he had met and bonded with on his travels, he could tell this thing had no chance of being friendly.

"I'm worse than that, boy!" Goldar snapped, pointing his sword at him. "I am Goldar, the greatest warrior in the universe! And you have two choices: bow before me and my empress Rita Repulsa, or face certain destruction!"

Goldar laughed as the young people stood still. Tracey was at the rear of the group, and he was looking for any way out for him and his friends. He then jumped back, and so did the others, when they saw the barely visible Adder coming in from the darkness, fangs tinged red and green.

"There's nowhere to go," the Adder said. He took his scaly arms and tossed the unconscious officer he had been carrying toward the teens; his shirt was torn at the collar, bloody punctures formed near the very top of his chest, and his wounds and eyes were coated with green slime.

"And you have nobody to help you."

Brock, Tracey, Lia, Misty, and Ash all bunched up together in a human circle. Their breaths quickened and they shook from head to toe. Some mouths were agape and others were pursed shut, but they all clenched their fists and narrowed their gazes.

"Oh, how brave!" Goldar jested, Adder hissing with glee at the scene as well. As he spoke, five bestial roars blasted through the woods as thunder boomed and lightning struck again. The teens kept their positions, but gasped at how loud the noises were now. Goldar looked into the sky with a puzzled look, but then he began to laugh again.

"Pay no attention to them," he said, drawing his sword back for a deep swing. "They can't help you! And it seems you've made your choice!"

With a snarl, Goldar lunged and went to drive his sword to bisect two of the humans. Yet before his weapon found its mark, the five bodies vanished, suddenly cloaked in bright glints of black, pink, blue, yellow, and red that rose to the sky and gone from sight.


	8. The Command Center

The five young people screamed and screamed, but it was no use as their bodies were hurled through the sky with amazing speed. They stretched their legs and tried to move their arms, but they weren't going anywhere away from the colorful light that encapsulated them. They whizzed by buildings, people, and landscapes until they reached what looked like some kind of rocky desert area. In just a few seconds, the five touched down at the top of a high cliff, the light around their bodies dissipating.

"What was _that?_ " Ash managed to ask as he shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"Flying, obviously," Misty said with a deadpan tone. " _How_ it happened is the question."

"I think the _why_ is the bigger question, Misty," Brock added. He turned his gaze up to the sky—still dark, but producing no more rain. He continued to turn him head to look at the sandy rock walls below them, and then back again. "We're out here in the middle of no…"

Brock paused, his mouth hung open as she took in the solid, etched walls in front of her and the rest of the group. A towering whitish-brown structure stood before the teens, reaching several stories high; curved lines, circles, and other ancient-looking symbols adorned the surface. In the middle of the two stretched-out walls was a huge cylindrical column with a wide opening, and there was another black opening before them at ground level.

Tracey went up to the building and traced his finger over a sunburst-shaped etching. "I wonder what these marking mean," he remarked in a hushed voice. "So intricate, but I've never seen them before. Certainly not the Unown."

"No way, Tracey," Lia said. she scanned the walls and looked at the place from top to bottom. "I've read about loads of temples and lost ruins and there's nothing that looks quite like this. This is just awesome."

Lia then turned her attention to the open blackness that formed at the temple's base. Everyone took a moment to stare into the opening, and then without a word or a nod, they all walked toward it.

Darkness, darkness, and more darkness filled the group's vision as they walked into the entrance. After a minute, it seemed like they were just moving around in some dead void somewhere, and then came the flash of bright light, followed by a pleasant assault on the senses. A multitude of colors and lights greeted Ash, Misty, Brock, Tracey, and Lia as they stepped from the stony ground onto a smooth purple floor. The ceiling above them split in two, the back end featuring a starry backdrop and the front end swaths of hot and cold hues. But what stood out most of all were three columns in the front of the chamber—two golden tubes with electric rings around them and a light blue one in the center.

"Okay…this is different…" Ash said, his eyes wide. "We've been some strange places before, but this one's probably the most unique."

"Unique? This is beautiful, magnificent," Misty said. As they stepped into the center of the room, a smile crossed her face. "But what is it all for?"

The center of the room was surrounded by a ring of purple stands, which all housed a variety of rectangular and square buttons that flashed at different intervals. Tracey looked at the blue column and one of the panels and got an idea.

"There's got to be something inside that tube," he said. "Maybe if I can work whatever device this is…"

"Hey! Stop! Don't touch that…Ahh!"

Just as Tracey went to access the computer, that squeaky voice cut him off, followed by a metallic clang. The humans turned around to see a large being fallen on the floor, and they went to pick it up.

"Whoa-ho!" Tracey let out as he helped hoist up the being by its red body. "A fully sentient, multifunctional automaton!"

"So I guess he's top of the line," Lia said, chuckling. She brushed off the robot's body and its golden saucer-shaped head. Arms and legs with ruffled tubing were attached to its red center, which featured a variety of flashing lights and a lightning bolt in the very middle.

"Um…I would suppose so…" the robot spoke, the circuits whirring a little from the fall. "Ay-yi-yi…"

Suddenly, a crackle of electricity fizzled in the air, prompting everyone to spin around and look at the giant blue column in the center. It was no longer empty, now featuring the giant, smooth face of a bald man.

"Welcome, young humans," the man boomed, ignoring the shouts and stuttering back of those below him.

"Wait, what? Misty asked. "What?"

"Warrior monsters, robots, and heads in tubes…" Brock muttered. "What is this, Sci-Fi Friday?"

The man in the column chuckled and nodded his head. "Your skepticism is healthy, Brock, but this is indeed real."

Ash then motioned everyone to come forward and asked, "How do you know our names? We have no idea who you are."

"Or what you are," Lia said, running a hand through her two-tone hair and turning to her new friends. "I take it he's not a creature you've encountered."

"My name is Zordon," Zordon announced. "I am an interdimensional being from a world far from yours. And this is my companion and assistant Alpha 5."

"Hello everyone," Alpha said, sheepishly waving a padded hand.

Zordon continued. "For millennia, Alpha and I have sought to help keep peace throughout the galaxy, but we faced our greatest challenge when we came to Earth, where we were able to stop a great threat to the planet at the cost of my freedom. That is why I am in the time warp you see before you. Since then, we have done our best to prepare to protect life from any great peril that humanity and Earth's great creatures could not stop. We created this Command Center as a fortress against evil."

Tracey blinked his eyes a couple of times and wiped his brow. "I guess that explains why Lugia isn't leaping out of the sea," he tried to jest. "But that doesn't completely explain that giant monster and that snake."

"That's right," Lia interjected, straining to take things in. "That giant ape thing…Goldar said something about someone named Rita. Who's that?"

"Please observe the Viewing Globe behind you," the sage instructed. "All will become clear."

The teens turned to face a glowing white sphere resting on a glowing pedestal in the southeast corner of the room. Alpha pressed a few buttons on a console, and then images of Rita and her minions flashed onscreen.

"This is Rita Repulsa, a dark sorceress from a far corner of space," Zordon explained. As he spoke, the Viewing Globe showed the empress and her monsters , including Adder, in hideous detail—claws on display, fangs dripping with saliva, and people running and being busted open by their advances. "I was able to seal her away ten thousand years ago, but she has returned to reclaim her grip on Earth and especially this island, the seat of her vile rule. She has no doubt refined her abilities and is able to create evil beasts much like this Adder, and with her henchmen and Putty Patrollers, she has more than enough strength to accomplish what she wishes."

Cold sweat ran down all five humans' faces. Brock was breathing open-mouthed, Lia's head was throbbing in thought, Tracey closed his eyes to digest everything, Misty's eyes were brimming with moisture, and Ash gripped the side of computer console until his knuckles turned white.

"We…we have to do something!" Ash said, his tone rising at the end of his sentence. He was all set to make another space crack, but the sight of a small dog being tossed into a tree by Adder erased any levity.

"You got that right," Misty growled, smacking a fist into her palm and making Lia turn her eyes toward her. "But how can we without our Pokémon?"

"As I have said, Misty," Zordon began, turning everyone's attention to him. "Alpha and I have worked to help stop such peril. And unfortunately, even you and your companions, with your strong bond, will not be enough to stop Rita. And it would be unconscionable to knowingly put them in this kind of danger."

"Luckily," Alpha piped up, the red lights on his visor bouncing to and fro as he pressed more buttons. White static crackled, producing a metal box in his hands. "we do have the means to help you five take her on!"

The teens walked up to Alpha, who opened the box to reveal five round, blocky objects. They were silver in color with red stripes and a red center; the words "POWER" and "RANGERS" were emblazoned in white across the top and bottom stripes respectively. Each teenager picked up a device, noticing a retractable black handle on the back of each one.

"What are these?" Brock asked.

"Those are your Power Morphers," Zordon replied. "You five have been selected to form an elite team to battle Rita, and these are your conduits for a universe of power, but they are incomplete without the keys. Hold out your hands and receive them now!"

The group hesitated for a second, but they all extended their right arms, palms open, and that's when they felt the immense warmth of otherworldly currents begin to fill their bodies. Bolts of black, pink, blue, yellow, and red flew from the golden columns surrounding Zordon and struck Brock, Lia, Tracey, Misty, and Ash's hands, eventually producing five gleaming gold coins, each one featuring the embossed image of some kind of animal.

"Behold the Power Coins!" the good wizard said.

Everyone's eyes lit up when they stared at the treasure in their hands. They silently appreciated and inspected them when Lia exclaimed, "Wait…that's a pterodactyl! That's the screech I've been hearing."

"Pterodactyl?" Tracey inquired. His gaze was fixed on the image of his animal, one with a wide skull crest and three horns.

"Yes!" Alpha confirmed. "The Power Coins are infused with the strength of the dinosaurs!"

"Precisely, Alpha," Zordon acknowledge. "You now have access to a universe of power, drawn from the ancestors of the creatures with extraordinary abilities that now inhabit Earth. I chose them for their bold and mighty spirits. When in danger, insert the Power Coin into the Morpher and raise it to the sky, calling the name of your dinosaur. You will then become a formidable fighting force—the Power Rangers!"

"Wait, Zordon," Ash managed to interrupt, finally looking again at the strange man in front of him. "How can _we_ save the world? I mean…"

"We're not exactly unfamiliar with this kind of thing, sir," Tracey interjected. "But how can we use this power?"

Zordon closed his eyes for a moment and smiled. "Your doubts are unfounded." He then moved his eyes to each young human; as he did, lines of brilliant light drew together on the colorful wall behind him, forming a full picture of each dinosaur.

"Tracey, you exhibit patience and one of the most promising technical minds of those your age, making you invaluable to this modern age. You will serve as the Blue Ranger with the spirit of the triceratops as your guide."

"Misty, you approach life and tackle all challenges with a dynamic blend of ferocity and passion . Your mentality and personality reflects that of the saber-toothed tiger, and you will fight as the Yellow Ranger."

"Ashton, there are few people in this world that share your adventurous spirit and enthusiasm. You never hesitate to put yourself on the line for those you care about and the greater good. As the Red Ranger, you will call upon the tyrannosaurus."

"Every team requires a solid foundation of strength and reason. You exemplify these traits, Brock, and you will draw power from the sturdy mastodon as the Black Ranger."

"And then there is Lia, an agile physical force and a young lady who pursues knowledge of all kinds and from every avenue. As you reach for greater heights, Pink Ranger, you will do so like the pterodactyl."

A few silent seconds passed. The images of the dinosaurs flashed, and their calls rang out in the Command Center as they vanished.

"I was gonna say 'welcome to the team' earlier," Ash said to Lia, running a hand behind his head. "But I guess I…well, never mind." He chuckled nervously, blown away by what Zordon just said.

"This is an honor," Lia began, walking to the side and shaking her head while she rubbed her eyes. Yes, everything there was real. "A rather insane one, though. How does that make us qualified to fight aliens?"

"Right," Brock agreed. "We're willing to help any way we can, but there has to be a mistake. Aren't there any special forces or military that would be in front of us for this mission."

"Absolutely not," Zordon answered. "Your true beings and abilities led us to select you to be Power Rangers."

"And don't forget," Alpha chimed in, scuttling closely to the group. "You have been chosen by the spirits of the dinosaurs. They are not wrong."

"I just knew we were being called," Misty said. She turned her Power Coin around in her fingers. "I could sense the saber-toothed tiger wasn't calling us to danger, at least any caused by it."

The others nodded, and as they did, a loud whine filled the air, causing everyone to cover their ears.

"What is that sound?" Tracey asked, wincing at the noise. He turned to see a polygonal crystal on top of one of the consoles blare red and yellow.

"It's Goldar and Adder! They're bringing more victims to the cave!" Alpha squealed. As he reported, an image flashed on the Viewing Globe. The two beasts were lugging a couple more people, a Charmander, and a big boxer dog in their arms, trumping through the forest.

"Okay," Lia hissed. Her body trembled at the sight, mainly out of anger. "Looks like it's go time."

"Oh yeah," Ash said, taking a big breath in. "But that gold guy looks like he's one of the main henchmen. I'm sure he's expecting us to just charge."

"Yes," Zordon acknowledged. "I will teleport you in a safe place behind the cavern. Keep an eye out and move when you are ready." All five teenagers nodded, and Zordon assured, "You will know what to do when you use the Morphers and Power Coins. Go now, and let the power protect you."

As soon as he finished the last word, his team shot up again into the air and through the center opening in the Command Center, streaking to their destination in another shower of rainbow light.


	9. The Time Has Come

"Char…Char…"

"Quiet, pipsqueak," Adder snarled. His long forked tongue barely touched the small fire lizard's cheek. The Pocket Monster was barely breathing, and its eyes were blinded with the monster's venom. The Charmander slowly rose its hand to try and bat at Adder, but it was too weak.

Goldar and Adder trumped through the forest with their captives, grunts, shouts, and the sounds of lead against clay in their wake. Some of the human police force was trying to stop them, but the Putties were posing quite the resistance.

"I have to tell you, I _really_ want to sink my teeth into these Earth creatures," Adder said. They were only a few moments away from their cave, going down the slope of the hill that overlooked it. He turned his gaze to the young boy and the dog in Goldar's arms, both with poison punctures in their bellies, and licked his jowls.

"You and me both, Adder," Goldar replied as they approached the mouth of the cave. He furrowed his brow and looked seriously at Adder. "But you know our orders. After we wake all of these prisoners up, they will have the option to worship Rita and enter our service. If not, then they become dinner."

Behind the sandy, jutted-out wall of the cavern, Zordon's new team watched and listened to the monsters' words. They kept low and tiptoed around the side, their breathing almost nonexistent.

"So there's more people in there," Ash whispered. "No telling how many."

"Doesn't matter," Lia added, craning her neck to see more. "We just have to follow them quietly and see where they go."

Suddenly the brutish face of Rita's chief minion twisted around the corner. The young people lurched back and tried to circle around to face Goldar and find Adder but the serpent was already gone, along with all four victims.

"I guess my plan worked," Lia remarked.

"Welcome back, children!" Goldar rasped. "We're so glad you could join us!"

"This is your only warning, you freak!" Misty yelled, forcing herself to stay put. "Return everyone you hurt, now!"

Goldar sneered and pointed to the top of the cave. "Aw, but we have some friends that would like to play with you! Putty Patrol, attack!"

A glob of gray light overtook the air above the cavern, producing six figures that somersaulted down to the ground. They fanned out around the humans, staring at them with blaring red eyes, their faces as stony as their huge arms. Meanwhile, Goldar laughed at the sight of the trapped prey and started off down another section of the woods, leaving the teens to try to find a way out of his trap.

"We have to take them two at a time…" Tracey quietly said, moving along in a circle with his friends while the Putties closed in.

Ash silently agreed. He locked eyes with one of the foot soldiers, not noticing the four black stripes wrapping around its back and around to its chest, like a sharp, open X. But he was too late to say anything as the group of Putty Patrollers pushed into their targets. The five teenagers instinctively ducked down, covering their heads with their hands and straining against the forces above. Their extremities pumping with adrenaline, the group simultaneously pushed upward to break the Putties' advance, only making the goons stutter-step back.

"Okay, they struck first…" Lia growled. She hoisted the bottom of her silver athletic shirt down and pushed off toward one Putty in a sliding motion. She brought a knee up to its gut, doubling it over. She torqued her hips and slammed her elbow into the back of its head. The Putty dropped to its knees, and then one of its brethren leapt onto Lia's back, tackling her to the ground.

"I don't think so!" Ash yelled. He ran over from where he and Brock were trying to square off with two more enemies, but one of them grumbled in its alien tongue and yanked the boy back by his shirt collar and nailed him in the right shoulder with a heavy fist. Brock ducked down and attempted to hoist both Putties up onto his shoulders, the two readily protesting by slamming his shoulders. Ash then kipped up and hit a right cross to one of their faces, making it fall feet-first to the ground.

"We've gotcha, Lia!" Misty called out. Her and Tracey rolled out of the way of a pair of clotheslines from their two opponents and went over to their new teammate, who had gotten up and struck her Putties with a swinging forearm block and two punches, but the magical beings were beginning to best her again. Misty grabbed one of them from behind, twisted her legs around its legs, and fell to the ground, taking the Putty with her. Tracey put himself in front of Lia and the other soldier, throwing a fist at its chest and recoiling painfully as it struck the super-tough body. Grimacing, Tracey snapped a front kick up, but the Putty caught his leg and dumped him hard on his back. In retaliation, Lia rotated her arm and thrust a palm strike toward the assailant's face. The Putty rotated with the blow and hit her with a backfist, sending Lia into Misty. The two then picked Tracey up and tossed him into the other two humans in a mess of mud, grass, and pebbles.

"Come on!" Brock let out as he side-kicked one of the Putties. It rocked back and Ash lunged to tackle it, but he was pulled by the legs and to the ground by the other Putty, who whirled around and launched Ash into his friend.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and all six Putty Patrollers regrouped a short distance away from their targets, who limped and lurched together near the mouth of the cave. The Putties then let out loud, rambling cries. Foliage rustled in the near part of the woods, and four of their brethren began to pile onto the scene.

"Usually toadies like these aren't this strong or smart," Brock said, cranking his shoulder back.

"They aren't Team Rocket," Tracey contributed. He hitched every breath as his spine throbbed.

"Just our luck," Misty added, licking her lips. A faint trickle of blood leaked from a cut in her mouth.

The six in the foreground slowly stepped forward, babbling and flexing their craggy arms. The other four advanced just as cautiously, teasing the pounce. The humans backed up, and Ash absentmindedly reached into his pocket, grazing his Power Morpher and Power Coin.

"Of course we'd forget…" Ash said, showing the group his items. "We have the Power Morphers and Power Coins!"

Everyone else quickly got their devices and coins out. Lia chuckled. "Zordon said to use these when we're in danger. Two-to-one odds sounds like a good time!"

The group slowly got to its feet, and they each placed their Power Coins in the middle of their Morphers, a light clinking sound ringing out.

 _"Gotta get there. Gotta get there,"_ Chief Kanzaki told herself as she ran up the hill. She was way ahead of her team at this point, and with one last push, she cleared the hill and raised her pistol at the four beings in front of her. But there were more than just those four strange monsters. Six more were in front of the cave, and those five kids stood right in front of the cavern, arms raised to the sky, supporting five round objects.

 _"What?"_

Brock, Lia, Tracey, Misty, and Ash pushed the buttons on the sides of their Power Morphers, and as the syllables they spoke hit the air, electric energy burst through their bodies.

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber-Toothed Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

Radiant lightning bolts and columns of light surrounded the teens, also casting down on the Putties jumping in to attack. They were immediately thrown back to the ground; some of them crumbled into clay lumps, and others dissolved in gray light.

With the opposition gone, the humans stood tall, looking nothing like they had before. Shining one-piece jumpsuits in black, pink, blue, yellow, and red now clothed Brock, Lia, Tracey, Misty, and Ash. Large white diamond shapes broke up the color of the main suits, and each person was protected with white-and-colored-diamond boots and gloves. They also wore all-encompassing helmets, each one modeled after their respective dinosaur spirits. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were finally there.

Sherry Kanzaki's jaw dropped. She nearly tumbled down the embankment as she ran to meet the group. Even as she got within arm's distance, she had no words.

"We're doing just fine, officer," Red Ranger said, removing his hands from around his Power Morpher, which was now attached to a white belt. "I don't think these guys will be causing any more trouble."

"I'll say!" Pink Ranger shouted, looking at her gloved hands. "I feel amazing!"

"There's nothing like this," Black Ranger whispered. He clenched his fist and felt a familiar warm feeling flow through his whole being.

Blue Ranger smiled, his eyes glowing almost as bright as the yellow eyes on his three-horned triceratops helmet. An array of bars and computerized lines and numbers ran across the Heads-Up Display that surrounded his black visor. Numbers ticked and a message formed: MONSTER ENERGY TRACKED: DOWNTOWN FERON GROVE.

"The monsters are downtown, guys," he reported. "We have to go!"

"Right," Yellow Ranger agreed. Her HUD reading showed the Adder's energy signature moving downtown as well. She took the chief by the shoulder and said, "We'll take care of everything downtown. Those creatures have been capturing people and bringing them into that cave. It's clear now, so you can go get them!"

"Awesome!" Red Ranger called. "Let's go!" And with those words, the Power Rangers instantly shot up into the air, cloaked in the light of teleportation.

Just as the Rangers left, more officers came down over the rise, looking into the sky and copying their superior's surprise with open mouths.

"Chief Kanzaki!" one of them cried. "What was that?! Who were those people?!"

Kanzaki refocused on her team, taking a moment to let the rush settle and to try to form a reply. She couldn't come up with one.


	10. Big City Brawl

Smashed glass, the ripple of flames, high-pitched screams—these noises created a wonderful symphony for Goldar and his troupe of Putty Patrollers. He marched along a downtown street, flinging passersby into buildings and cars, swinging his sword at whatever tried to challenge him. A child's Voltorb had rolled up to a couple of Putties that were bullying the parents into the pavement. The electric creature began to glow bright white, ready to blow up the intruders, but Goldar sent it sailing into the air with his blade, causing it to explode in midair.

"What do you want with us?" one of the victims asked. Adder had the man pinned against the side of a van, verdant slime dripping from his red maw.

"You humans and your miserable animals are currently taking up space in our empress' world," Adder said, chomping down and razing the man's arm through his suit jacket; he cried out as blood streamed down and the bipedal beast kicked him in the stomach. "We are here to remind you who is in charge."

"Exactly, Adder," Goldar said in his rumbling voice. He turned to face the group of captives behind him—all were surrounded by Putties, ten more having been sent down by Rita to round up even more Earthlings, and were clutching their wounds or trying not to look at the monsters around them. "You all have two choices: bow down to Rita Repulsa…"

"There's no way we'd bow down to weirdos like you!" A young girl shouted, peeking from behind her mother and father. Her parents quickly pulled her back, and this made both monsters chuckle.

"Oh you'll bow, alright," Adder hissed, widening his open mouth. "And it seems you've picked the second choice, so you won't be getting up!" He sucked in a big breath, and red, gaseous particles began to fill his mouth.

A little boy hiding behind a pile of rubble saw what the serpentine being was doing. He pushed off of the concrete and began to run past Goldar. The chief demon immediately seized the child by his shirt collar, laughing as his prey screamed and the people were held back by the Putties.

"Get away from him!" a woman with short red hair similar to the boy's yelled. She had slipped under the foot soldiers' legs and made a beeline for Goldar, who simply lifted his clawed foot up and knocked her down.

"Enough kindness from me! I'll kill you both!" Goldar rasped as he threw the boy into the woman. He then thrust his jagged sword back, preparing to plunge the blade into the huddled mother and child. The Putty Patrol garbled in glee, but the flunkies fell silent as something lit up the dull sky. Goldar turned around to see what was happening. Five points of light descended onto a towering business building in the near northwest, and Goldar's blood-red eyes glinted as he growled in annoyance.

Five figures in colorful suits, boots, and gloves stood atop the building. One by one, they somersaulted off of the edge and down to the ground, letting out battle cries before they landed. The group of five—the Power Rangers—bolted down the road and were within range in seconds. The Red Ranger threw the first strike, snapping a right hand straight to Adder's hooded head; however, the beast leapt out of the way, leaving a Putty to receive the blow. Goldar saw the Black and Pink Rangers heading for him, and he leapt away just like his partner.

"Putties, put these intruders to the test!" he commanded as he faded from view.

"Get back here, you coward!" Brock shouted. He had no time to say anything else as three Putty Patrollers leapt onto him, but he did not tumble as they expected; instead, the Ranger began to lift all three at once.

"We'll get him, but let's clear things up here first!" Lia assured. Two gray goons advanced toward her, but they were quickly felled by Lia as she whipped around and smashed their faces with a jumping spin heel kick.

Meanwhile, the Blue and Yellow Rangers pushed past the blockade and started urging the group of people to retreat in the opposite direction. Citizens gasped and stammered at the heroes in front of them, but nobody resisted as they all took off farther into the city.

Misty turned around and smirked. One Putty Patroller lunged at her with a rocky arm, but she twirled around and chopped it in the back of the neck. Another goon stepped in and he was also subdued as the Yellow Ranger leapt onto it and rolled on the ground.

"How far is the nearest ambulance?" she asked Tracey as she smacked her foe with furious punches. The sounds of sirens began to cut through the furor.

Tracey began a scan of the inner downtown Feron Grove area, trying to lock on to any incoming emergency vehicles. Numbers and text rolled on his HUD, and he rolled away from danger. He backed into two Putties, who took hold of him as another came in with a drill-like arm aiming right for the heart. Blue Ranger cried out and pushed off of the ground, breaking his captors' hold as he backflipped and left their clay appendages to be pierced by their own comrade.

"Three hundred yards!" Tracey reported as a man shouted behind him. He was splayed upon a pile of rubble and sporting a black eye. The weaponized Putty attacked again, but the Blue Ranger caught the blow and landed two front kicks to the chest. "These people will need them!" he continued as he hosted the man up and helped him over to Misty.

"These clods will need them more," his friend jested as she sidestepped yet another minion, letting it crash into the rubble.

Ash was smiling wider than Misty as he set to work. He cartwheeled and dodged blows from Putties, doubling them over with jump kicks and haymakers.

"I feel like I can do anything!" he yelled. "Come on, boys!" He leapt into the air and bounded off of a damaged car, slamming a high side kick into a Putty's sternum, toppling him into two more.

"I know what you mean, man!" Brock added. He slung an opponent into a nearby mailbox, dropped to one knee, and swept another one to the pavement. A man and woman covered in stinging slime and trying to crawl up the steps of a bank screamed as two more of Rita's soldiers dropped down from the roof. One tried to catch Brock with a big boot, but the tall fighter immediately dropped into a split, the kick narrowly missing the embossed mastodon trunk on his helmet, and forced his elbow into its gut. Brock then hopped up, took the other one by the shoulder, and shoved him to Ash.

"From me to you!" he said with a laugh. He then turned to the couple and gently but firmly lifted them under his arms, saying, "Come on, I'll get you to safety," making the pained duo smile a little.

Ash intercepted the Putty Brock had shoved his way and struck it with a backfist he had seen Lia execute earlier. The being was a bit rattled, but its eyes glowed red and, babbling, it reared back to strike. Before it could execute the action, the Pink Ranger stepped in and, rotating her hips and arm at the same time, leveled the creep with the same technique.

"Nicely done," Ash complimented.

"You'll get there," Lia said, giggling a little.

"I just don't understand. What's a Power Ranger?" a medic asked as he began to take in injured parties that the Rangers were bringing him. He was mesmerized by these people in colorful suit and animal-like helmets, his gaze on the blue one's shining belt buckle.

"Yeah, are you with the cops?" his partner asked in a high-pitched voice. He and the driver were loading a child strapped to a baseboard into the back of the vehicle.

"Not exactly," Tracey said, rounding up some more stragglers and taking them to another truck. "But we're here to help."

"It's okay," Misty said to a lady she was carrying, the woman's arm trembling and tucked into her. She repeated the phrase as she loaded her up, but then she cried out as something sharp crashed down into the door of the ambulance and into her shoulder, sparks flying from her body.

"Barely impressive, human," Goldar snarled. He drew his sword up again and darted it at Yellow Ranger's throat. Misty barely dodged and, catching her breath, she lunged onto Goldar's back, trying to tear into his armor. This had little effectiveness as Goldar flipped her over onto her feet, but he missed a sword swipe as the Ranger flipped away and rejoined her team.

"Oh, so you want to play now, huh?" Yellow Ranger posed. "All of your friends are toast!"

"There's no playing around here, brat!" Goldar retorted. Adder sprang out from a corner of the street and joined him. "We will tear you apart!"

"Yes, but let's marinate them first, friend," Adder suggested.

Goldar nodded and raised his claws to his eyes. In a second, flames flew from his corneas and rocketed into the Rangers' bodies, forcing them down. Adder laughed and opened his vile mouth, producing a growing cloud of gas that pulsed as his he drew in more air.

"Bad move, ugly!" Red Ranger shouted, reaching over to a holster on his left hip and drawing out a red and silver pistol. "Blade Blasters up!"

The other Rangers shouted in agreement and reached for their sidearms. Goldar raised his eyebrows, Adder kept drawing in breath, and both monsters were thrown to the asphalt as rays of energy seared their throats and faces.

Back at the Moon Palace, Rita watched every moment of the battle. She gripped her magic wand tighter and tighter, and Squatt, Baboo, and Finster doubled back, knowing what was going to happen.

"Those two are taking them too lightly," she hissed. "It's time for them to grow up!" And with that, she reared back and flung her staff over the balcony and toward Planet Earth, letting out a rare cackle before stepping back and resuming a contemplative grin.


	11. Battle Sequence Engage!

**Hi All! I would have this story finished today, but I've recently taken on more work and I am feeling pretty tapped as of late. This is the next to last chapter for sure, and things will wrap up this week. And for anyone interested, I am having someone work on a drawn rendition of Lia Feran in the Pink Ranger suit so that everyone can see what she'd look like! Exciting things are coming!**

"That's the last of everyone here!" Black Ranger called out to the emergency workers still present at the downtown battlefield. He and the Blue Ranger helped move any other injured parties—human or nonhuman—to rescue vehicles. "Go on and get out of here!"

One of the ambulance drivers dutifully nodded toward the costumed people and climbed aboard the transport. Things were too weird and too dangerous to stick around now.

"So if you've had enough, get off of our planet!" Pink Ranger shouted at Adder and Goldar, who were finally done writhing in pain from the Rangers' laser fire.

Goldar brushed off tiny chips of metal from his seared body and spat at his insolent opposition's feet, turning his head to the cloudy sky. A glint of light pierced the atmosphere, followed by a glowing purple object that plummeted toward them.

"Not quite, girl!" the ape-griffin responded.

"Yes," the Adder hissed, flicking his tongue in and out of his jowls. "We haven't even begun!"

Suddenly, a sharp rod struck the ground and cracked it open. Violet bolts of lightning flowed from the circular tip of the staff, which caused torrents of steam to rise from the earth. The two extraterrestrials tromped forward, doubling, tripling, and quadrupling in size as they moved. In a few seconds, Adder and Goldar towered over most of the buildings in Feron Grove, and the Power Rangers barely stood over their feet.

"Stop and take a breath, Earthlings! It's about to get good!" Adder boomed. He opened his mouth again and brought particles of red gas into the center. With a heavy guttural, he expelled a crimson cloud that swept down to the town surface and barreled through the streets.

"Get down! Get down!" Red Ranger ordered. He and his teammates huddled down to the ground and kept their heads low. Nonetheless, Adder's gas flowed over them, and the ground rumbled as the giants stomped beside them.

"Yes, cower!" Goldar chortled. "You have no chance of defeating us now!" He then reached a huge hand over to one of the tallest business buildings and raked his claw through the windows, tearing them and parts of the supports to bits. Professionals still trying to find cover screamed and tried to run, but swaths of Adder's poison blew into the building. People coughed and sputtered, all of them eventually collapsing.

The Adder's concoction rushed through much of Feron Grove, even reaching the security of the nearby hospital. Windows shattered and poison seeped through the cracks of the doors, felling doctors and patients left and right.

"What is that stuff? Oliver!" Smith Feran called out as Tracey's father plummeted to the floor as the red gas came through the entryway. In seconds, Smith fell down over Ellie's body, convulsing.

"Dad!" Hayashi shouted. He shut his mouth tight and sprang to the floor, retrieving the fallen nurse and trying to hoist him up to the bed with his parents, but the gas and the held breath was too much for him, and he coughed, vomiting a little before crumpling to the tile floor, eyes wide open.

"The helmets are protecting us from the noxious gas," Blue Ranger stated, looking for a way to get past the two enemies and back to the rescue. "We have to move!"

"They're killing them!" Yellow Ranger screamed. She drew her Blade Blaster and began firing blasts of yellow energy at Goldar and Adder, who simply laughed and kept going. "You leave those people alone!"

"You're almost correct," Adder replied as he toppled several power lines with his tail, making the Rangers leap out of the way. "My venom is meant to paralyze, to render you in a constant state of pain. My gas acts much the same, but it slowly eats away at life until it is gone! The people of this island have twenty minutes until they are no more, and that's more than enough time for them to watch you and their city go up in flames!"

"No…No!" Ash yelled, pounding the ground. "There has to be a way to at least put a dent in these guys."

As he spoke, each Power Ranger's body perked up, a strange jolt hitting them as a voice spoke to their minds.

 _"Power Rangers, this is Zordon. The time has come for you to meet the fantastic creatures you draw your strength from. When danger escalates, you need only to call upon the Dinozords for assistance. When the threat becomes too great, you may combine your powers to form the mighty Megazord. I know you will do well…"_

Ash turned to his friends, who were looking at each other and then to him.

"Did you just hear what Zordon said?" he asked.

"Dinozords?" Brock questioned, raising an eyebrow. "They doesn't sound like just dinosaurs."

"Whatever they are," Lia interrupted. "they'll sure beat just standing here."

"Then let's not waste any more time!" Ash added.

Looking past the towering terrors, the five Power Rangers thrust their right fists upward, opening their hands and reaching to the sky, all yelling, "Dinozord Power!"

The Rangers' cries rang out far beyond Feron Grove, extending to various points in nature. Eyes opened, limbs stretched out, and five beings emerged from secret hiding places. Tyrannosaurus burst from an underground chasm, Mastodon broke free from a huge glacier in a subzero land, Triceratops charged across a vast desert, Saber-Toothed Tiger bounded through jungle foliage, and Pterodactyl took to the sky from the lava of a volcano.

Back at Feron Grove's southern harbor, the gas had yet to creep down to the area and the edge of the forest there. Chief Kanzaki stood with three of her officers, all with Pokéballs in hand watching the monsters' rampage.

"We have no choice," she said to Hanson. "Those things are too much for us."

"But what about the Air Force? We just called in a base for assistance!" Hanson reminded her.

Kanzaki gripped her capsule tightly and ducked her head. "We have to keep fighting with what we have now, Hanson," she said. "I'm not giving up, and I don't know if they could make it in time…"

Hanson slowly nodded along with the other officers, and the four tossed their Pokéballs to the ground. The spheres broke open, revealing Typhlosion, Steelix, Greninja, and Fearow. The four creatures watched the Adder and Goldar, their eyes narrowing and their bodies tensing up as they prepared to move to stop the danger.

But they didn't. Instead, the Pokémon turned toward the police force, looking at them stoically.

"What are they doing?" one of the policemen asked. "Fearow, move!" Nonetheless, the gigantic flying type stood where it was just like all the others.

Before anyone else could say a word, a shriek burst through the air above, heralding the shadow of a huge winged being passing overhead. With the same breakneck speed, another big shape—a yellow quadruped with silver limbs—let out a catlike roar as it smashed through the forest and headed for the city. In a few moments, three more beings came in from all sides to meet their opposition.

Law enforcement officials stood static as the Power Rangers' Dinozords came upon the city, all of them with jaws dropped as their Pokémon let out cries of support.

"No way!" Red Ranger cried as he saw the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord race to the area. The prehistoric creature, robotic in nature much like its brethren, let out a rage-filled roar and bashed its red skull into Adder, knocking the snake to its knees. "That's what I call power!"

"Awesome doesn't even describe these guys!" Black Ranger added as he saw the Mastodon hitch a silvery tusk around Goldar's wrist, restraining him from doing anymore damage. The Zord pushed back with its back limbs and hoisted the enemy back into the center of the street.

"The perfect cure for a plague," Pink Ranger whispered to herself. "Let's get to work!"

"Prehistoric power lights the darkest hour!" the group bellowed, and with that, the Power Rangers leapt to the tops of their vehicles, going through doors and sliding into their respective cockpits.

"Red Ranger here! Sync up!"

"Black Ranger, let's get stompin'!"

"This is Blue Ranger! Systems nominal!"

"The Yellow Ranger is ready to tear it up!"

"Coming in from the sky is the Pink Ranger!"

"Battle sequence engage!" Ash announced. He and each of his teammates slid a circular pad set below a panel dotted with buttons, knobs, and status screens, and the battle began yet again.


	12. Megazord Activated!

Goldar and the Adder had no chance to react to the charge of the Dinozords. After Tyrannosaurus and Mastodon levied their attacks, the Blue Ranger directed the Triceratops to barrel into Goldar.

"Alright, Triceratops," Tracey said, pressing a series of buttons on his console just as his fellow Rangers had done. A bright sheen momentarily cloaked the Zord, enabling a secondary protective shield; that way, the stomps—and wheeling, in the Triceratops' case—of the Dinozords would cause significantly less strain and damage on the city streets. "Let's clean up these streets!"

The blue behemoth let out a low cry, its red eyes flashing twice. Tracey moved his controls to upend the vehicle on its left wheel tracks. With a lurch, the Triceratops Dinozord buried its fanned crest and its horns into Rita's second-in-command, flipping him and sending him to the ground.

"Alright, Tracey! Fancy driving!" Lia said. She maneuvered the Pterodactyl in a broad circle around the tops of the downtown buildings, and doing so with such ease.

"It's like I've been flying this thing for years…" she quietly said, allowing a laugh as she slammed the Zord's right wing into Adder's maw. However, the beast clamped down and whipped the Pterodactyl Dinozord into the skull of the Mastodon Dinozord, sending both sets of battling robots and their pilots screaming and crashing to the ground in a shower of sparks.

"Hold on! I've got him!" Tracey called out, moving the Triceratops to square off with the Adder. Yet, as he and the Dinozord positioned themselves, Goldar slid like a baseball player, pounding his target with his golden feet and sending it away.

"So one-dimensional…" Goldar said under his breath. Tromping footsteps behind him made him turn around to see the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord running to meet him.

"How's this for one-dimensional?" Ash quipped. He pressed a few buttons on his console, and the silver claws on the Tyrannosaurus' hands opened and gripped Goldar's hands as the two locked up. Both combatants bared their fangs and growled at each other, the monster's bloody-red eyes peering into the Zord's yellow eyes. But Goldar's concentration was suddenly shattered when a feline shriek filled his ears. Misty's Saber-Toothed Tiger Dinozord swiftly strode up the back of the Tyrannosaurus and bounded off the top of its head, flipping over and striking the Adder with the cylindrical end of its blocky tail. As soon as Adder plummeted to the ground, Tyrannosaurus ducked its head and wedged its upper body between Goldar's legs, tossing him overhead.

"I think we all know what you mean, Lia," Misty said over the intercom, giving a salute as she saw the other three Zords recovering. She thought to herself, _"It's like Pokémon training turned up to twenty."_

"Oh yeah!" Red Ranger called out. He then placed his hands onto two large red buttons—featuring his Power Ranger helmet and his Power Coin, the latter being featured on a panel in the back of his cockpit, much like the others—and bright yellow energy flew to a third button that stood above the others, one featuring his Dinozord. "But I think it's time we show these guys some Megazord power!"

"Right! Powering up!" the other four Rangers said in unison, activating the rest of the beginning of the transformation.

In the surrounding buildings, people—whether they were afflicted by Adder's gas or not—crept and crawled to any safe-looking opening to see what was going on. The five Dinozords now formed up in a single line a distance awat, contorting their tails, arms, legs, and even heads to form a rolling vehicle—the Dino Tank. Tyrannosaurus was locked in the middle, with Mastodon serving as arms mounted with two cannons, Pterodactyl perched on top, and Triceratops and Saber-Toothed Tiger using wheels mounted on their bodies to roll the metal mass toward the enemies. Onlookers of all shapes and sizes struggled to take everything in.

"This…this can't be real. There's no way."

"So this is what I'm seeing before I die… Monsters? Dinosaurs?"

"Even if this isn't real, Dad, those guys in the colored suits have got 'em now! Come on!"

"Whoa!" the Power Rangers yelled as their Dino Tank rattled. Goldar and Adder assailed the tank with blasts of orange flames and green venom as it rolled to mow them down.

"Your feeble machines are no match for our power!" Adder taunted, rearing his head back to laugh. This lapse in battle proved costly, however, as the twin cannons on the tank responded with two volleys of electric cannonballs, flooring the two menaces.

"Should've kept your mouth shut!" Black Ranger shot back, taking his finger off of the cannon controls.

"You tell 'em, Brock," Blue Ranger added.

All five heroes now sat in one large cockpit, and the group worked together to bring the Dino Tank to a rumbling halt. A symbol containing all five dinosaurs was embossed in the back of the room, and it began to glow with a rainbow sheen as the Red Ranger punched in some commands. Suddenly, the cannons ejected from the end of the Mastodon arms and reattached to the other two on the back plate. Pterodactyl then took to the sky, twirling high in the air as the arms rotated into humanoid hands and the shoulder plates fanned out.

"Megazord sequence has been initiated!" a robotic voice proclaimed. After the announcement, the legs—Triceratops on the left and Saber-Toothed Tiger on the right—angled upright and brought the Dino Tank to a vertical base. As the Pterodactyl drew in close, Tyrannosaurus' chest opened up, and the big reptilian head retreated inside. In its place was a three-horned head with two fanned back, and a solid silver mouthpiece for a mouth. The Pterodactyl contracted its wings and head into itself, and the Zord attached to the Tyrannosaurus' chest, forming a pink and red chest plate.

The horns fanned out, the head's golden eyes flashed, and lightning instantly struck around the supermech's feet as the voice announced, "Megazord Activated!"

At this point, Adder and Goldar had finally gotten to their feet, with the former swinging his tail and smashing a row of cars on the street and the latter summoning his sword and tearing through the ceiling of a bank close by, also summoning the screams of those hiding inside. Goldar hitched his jagged blade up and prepared to dive it into the crowd below, but the Power Rangers maneuvered the Megazord to them and slammed its right fist across both of their heads. The screaming citizens instantly turned their exhalations into ones of cheer as the fighting machine whipped around and next leveled Adder with a spinning right side kick.

"Way to go!" one of the bankers in a corner of the center room rasped out, weakly coughing due to the alien toxins.

"YEAH!" a couple of kids coming up from behind her added, despite another swing of Adder's tail coming from overhead.

"You insolent worms!" Adder spat at the Power Rangers. The serpent slashed at the robot's chest with its claws, but Megazord pressed on and brought its arms around the opponent, thrusting its knee into its belly three times.

Nonetheless, Goldar would not be deterred from his mission. While Megazord was occupied with its fight with Adder, Goldar lunged and pushed right into Adder, bulldozing the Megazord with his immense strength.

"Stabilize shields!" Ash ordered. "We're going down!"

The combined Dinozords did indeed crash to the ground, shattering much of the road as they did. Goldar drove his sword into Megazord's chest, setting off a burst of flames and electricity, and the mech continued to spasm as Adder sank its fangs into the Saber-Toothed Tiger, dripping poison over its body.

"Power is draining!" Misty reported, trying to tap into more energy to give a boost to the Megazord's legs. "Shifting auxiliary power now!"

"Hold on!" Lia yelled, pointing upward through the cockpit window. Everyone braced themselves as both of Rita's minions hoisted the Megazord up, and the team felt like they were shot out of a cannon as they were tossed through the air, then weightlessness, silence, and the pain of the crash into the seaside forest. Trees cracked and crumpled as Megazord landed, and the mighty vehicle's circuits and energy banks barely whirred and pulsed with the might that was left.

"There's got to be something left!" Ash said, checking several monitors next to him. "Our cannons won't be enough, and fighting these monsters head-on isn't going to cut it."

"So none of your usual strategy, huh?" the Yellow Ranger, who was sitting to his right and Blue Ranger's left. half-teased, still keeping her focus on the energy banks, which were slowly changing back from orange-yellow to green.

"The right moment will decide this, guys," Lia spoke up. She was also examining monitors next to her and the Black Ranger, and then a smile crossed her lips. "Tracey, do you see this?"

The Blue Ranger nodded and replied, "Yes, but we have to get to them now. We only have a few minutes before everyone who's sick is done for!"

Red Ranger also saw the image in front of his friends, and he agreed. "Lia's right. But I don't think we have to go anywhere. Remember what Adder said…"

Goldar and Adder stood tall in downtown Feron Grove, but Goldar snarled and said, "I've grown tired of Zordon's children. It's time to end this."

Adder sniggered and flicked his tongue in and out of his mouth. He bent his knees and reared back a few steps. "One strike is all it will take, Goldar. Just one."

Adder paused for a second, his eyes peering upon the fallen Megazord, which barely twitched in the thick of the woods. Too easy.

With a sickening hiss, Adder bounded high into the sky, scrunching his neck back and pushing it forward, propelling himself hundreds of yards through the air and aiming his fangs toward the Megazord's head.

"Ready?" the Red Ranger asked? The other four gripped their controls in silent assent, then roared with him, "Power Sword!"

While Adder was still flying through the air, the sky flickered bright white, and a sleek, glowing object plummeted from on high, falling right into the Megazord's right hand. The bright sheen covered the Megazord, and the colossal combatant rose to its blue and yellow feet, springing out of the foliage and up to meet the descending Adder.

"Plasma Slash!"

With those words, Megazord raised its silver, arrow-shaped blade high as lightning and red energy pulsed all around them. Rita's monster barely had any time to let out a surprised scream as the robot swung the sword diagonally and upward, cleaving it in two. The beast sparked with otherworldly power, crumbling into heaps of space clay and eventually exploding in a great fireball as Megazord touched down, pointing the Power Sword right at Goldar, who stood in the city with his mouth agape.

"So…so…" Goldar whispered, taking a big step back. "You do have something… Not that it will matter for long…" And, swinging his own weapon, he disappeared in a plume of flames.

Black turned to blinding white, and then a sudden rush of muted colors, followed by three male faces. Ellie Feran slowly rose to a sitting position, her eyes widening and her breath hitching as she saw her husband, son, and Oliver Matthews stirring as well in the midst of broken glass and the wails of sirens.

"Smith…Hayashi…Oliver…" she said, coughing so hard her blonde locks fell in front of her eyes. Her family members all wrapped arms around her, clinging to her tightly. She squeezed back but pushed away and continued. "What happened here? It looks like a warzone."

"Oh my…Ellie…" Smith said, draping his arms around his wife again while Hayashi and Oliver smiled.

"Answer the question, dear," the Feran matriarch said, chuckling. "I've been through worse. In fact…" She reached over to peel off her bandages; there was no wound to be found on her shoulder at all now. "There's nothing there."

Hayashi shook his head and looked out the window. He had barely heard the commotion outside for the last fifteen minutes, but he had seen some kind of giant metallic bird soaring past the window for a split second before he set his head down.

 _"There was more than one of them, whatever they were,"_ he thought. _"They saved us."_

A doctor in a white coat then whipped through the door and grabbed Oliver by the shoulder. "Ollie! You have to come see this!"

Oliver tried to pry the physician off of him as he was pulled along. "What? What?" he asked as he was directed into one of the larger rooms, and he ceased struggling when he saw the patients rising from their hospital beds. The green slime still slathered on their bodies faded from view, and any visible wounds closed up, the blood tingeing them vanishing as well.

Everyone in the room was celebrating. The two brothers from by the seaside were slapping hands, the man and woman the Black Ranger carried away from the Putties were embracing each other and nearly digging their fingers into each other's back, and the little girl was holding her Eevee high in the air, their smiles equally as wide.

Chief Kanzaki and the previously injured officer were the next two to arrive; Hanson was helping organize a rescue team outside of the hospital.

"Well, I guess I won't need to stay here after all," the policeman said, stretching his arms and laughing.

Kanzaki dipped her head and repressed her own laughter. Behind her, the Ferans were coming in to see what all of the commotion was, talking amongst themselves.

"I don't know where she went," Smith said, shrugging his coat-laden shoulders. "But I doubt she's in any danger."

"Just like Lia," Ellie muttered as Hayashi grinned at his father. She turned to Kanzaki and asked, "Chief, have you seen Lia anywhere? From what I can see outside, the city looks like it was just bombed!"

Kanzaki's lips turned upward just for a second. "I saw her earlier, El. She's just fine."

 _"They're all just fine. Not bad work for a bunch of kids,"_ she said to herself.

Back at the Command Center, the now-demorphed Power Rangers cheered as they saw everything on the Viewing Globe, their pain and fatigue totally forgotten. Alpha had to wiggle his way away from them thanks to all of the pats and claps he received in the celebration.

"This is great news. Adder was a lower-class monster, Rangers," Alpha said. "So any effect from his attacks has vanished thanks to your work. But that won't always be the case."

"You're right Alpha," Ash responded, coming back down to Earth. "But if there's one thing we learned, besides space aliens existing…"

"And superpowers," Misty added, cocking her head to the side.

"Giant robot dinosaurs…" Lia spoke.

"So…"

"The point is that we got lucky this time," Tracey supplied. "We won, but Goldar is sure to come back. He has plans."

"And those plans are gonna be stopped," Brock said confidently, flexing a muscle. "Just leave it to Super Brock and his trusty Mastodon pal. The ladies will love it."

Alpha tapped Brock on the shoulder with a metallic hand. "Umm, Brock, that's not a valid option."

Brock shrugged and answered, "I know, I know. Superheroes can't give away their secret identities."

"Precisely," Zordon interrupted, and everyone's attention snapped right to him. "You have done well, but as Power Rangers, you have much more to learn. Your trials are far from over and far from being any easier. In addition, you must follow three basic rules or lose the protection of the power. Never use your power for personal gain. Never escalate a battle unless Rita or her army forces you. And keep your identities secret; no one may know you are a Power Ranger. The choice is yours."

The five teens looked at one another, then to Zordon and Alpha, taking in all of the colors, flashing lights, and the otherworldly sounds ringing in their ears in addition to the wizard and his friend.

"This will definitely cut into my school life…" Lia said, closing her eyes and speaking with a sorrowful tone.

"Yeah," Tracey agreed. He put his hand to his chin in a thinking position. "We all just got here, and we don't know much about Feron Grove."

Alpha stuttered for a bit, squeaking in dismay. "Ay-yi-yi…"

Lia then smiled a toothy grin and put an arm around the robot's neck. "Yeah, right. Like I'm ever leaving you guys!"

Alpha tilted his head; human humor would be something he'd have to once again get used to. The other four laughed, and Ash put his hand out palm-down in the air.

"Power Rangers?"

The others put their hands in the center and then shouted, "Power Rangers!" as they jumped into the air.

Zordon nodded toward his new team and said, "Thank you. Great changes will come from your sacrifice. The journey will be unlike anything you've faced, but I know the world is in good hands."

A few moments later, Brock, Misty, Ash, Tracey, and Lia stepped outside of the Command Center, covering their eyes as sunlight hit them for the first time all day. The afternoon sky never looked bluer to them, and as the soft wind blew and the sun always shined, they knew they would protect their planet no matter what.

NEXT TIME ON POWER RANGERS

Rita Repulsa is incensed that her plan to take over Planet Earth has been thwarted by the Power Rangers, and she isn't going to allow this new team any rest. As the teens settle into their new lives, she seeks to destroy everything in Feron Grove before it can even be rebuilt, sending a terrible explosives artist to cause mayhem in the city. Can our heroes keep the charge and preserve Feron Grove? Find out next time on the _Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!_


End file.
